Circus Freaks
by LittleAlbatross
Summary: This story is set between Forest of the Dead and Midnight. No shippage here. Just good ol' Doctor Who-ness. Zombie clowns, man eating mud, crazy guys with guns, what are the Doctor and Donna to do?
1. Chapter 1

**I always forget to put an author's note at the top of my stories, so this time I am forcing myself to remember. :) I'd like to thank anyone and everyone who reads my stories and give a double "thanks thanks" to those who take the time to review. This story is for you Dead Composer, proving that I can in fact write more than one genre but I happen to have a favorite, just like you like writing twisted Arthur stories…**

**Oh, and because it's the "cool thing to do"…Disclaimer: I don't own it, I'll never be able to afford it, but I can certainly take time to twist it to my liking through fanfic and ain't nobody gonna stop me.**

"Oi! Martian Boy, what's the big idea?" Donna Noble called to the Time Lord who was practically skipping ahead of her on their way to the giant building looming in the distance. It was like a kaleidoscope of color, shimmering in the noon day…moons? And there seemed to be thousands of notes floating out from it, some of the harmonies not as consonant as she would have liked. It was like complete chaos, and reminded her vaguely of the life she'd started to lead. She looked away from the gaily colored building and the overly excited Time Lord and down to her brand new shoes, which were now caked into the mud she was very slowly sinking in to.

"What's with the muck?" she asked when he turned around to face her, dancing in place.

"It's not "muck", Donna. It's "Myuck". It's a living organism; every planet has it only it's not always this active. It's really quite friendly, that's why it's "sucking" you in while you just stand there like that," the Doctor said grinning and motioning to her feet that were now completely encased in the substance—all the while still dancing.

"Yeah but why do we have to do THAT? Gonna frighten it away with your white boy dance moves?" she snapped as she mimicked the Doctor by pointing to his own feet.

"Hey! I learned this move at Abraham Lincoln's inauguration party. You should have seen all 6'4" of him doing it. Come to think of it, he let me wear his hat. Wonderful hat. Found a rabbit in it once. Everyone thought that was a right good trick. Course there was no trick, I didn't put the rabbit there, actually I'm not sure how it got there, or that it was even a rabbit. Rabbits don't usually sing Madonna songs and certainly not in 1800's America…" the Doctor said trailing off. He had stopped his dance to think about what the furry creature had actually been and was now slowly sinking. He shouted when he realized what he'd done and resumed his dance, quickly escaping the Myuck.

"Lovely story, Doctor really, but that doesn't explain why you're dancing and why I am now several inches deeper in this...this…stuff," Donna huffed, becoming exasperated.

"Oh, right! Well you see, Donna, they are friendly little buggers, yeah, but they really can't stand it when you tickle them. And dancing about on top of them like this? Well it tickles them worse than a feather to the nose. They like to touch as little as possible of the source of the ticking. And personally, I suggest you start tickling," the Doctor answered and nodded towards her legs, which had now sunk to mid-shin. Donna quickly obeyed and began shimmying about inside the Myuck, and could feel the organism pressing against the bottoms of her feet to escape the sensation. In no time she was free.

"Why doesn't that building there sink?" Donna asked Cha-Cha-Cha-ing up to the Doctor.

"Really, Donna, you can pick a better dance. One that doesn't involve so many steps back," the Doctor said in reference to Donna's Cha-Cha-Cha. He was doing something that resembled the hokey pokey so Donna just rolled her eyes at him and motioned for him to continue his explanation.

"The building doesn't sink because it's dancing," he finally answered.

"Dancing?..."

Donna gazed at brightly beaming singing building and realized that it seemed to be vibrating as well.

"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle…What is this place anyway?" Donna asked, turning back to the doctor, who was now doing the electric slide. Donna had settled on just jogging in place.

"Trust me you don't want to be a monkey's uncle-- especially not a monkey from this planet. They are generally used a distraction during set changes and I tell ya they can just ramble on about absolutely everything and never stop. They've got a story for everything. I actually met one once that had relocated to a planet called Story. Not because of books or tales or something mind you but because it was extremely tall and skinny. Like a story in a building. Not the monkey, the planet. Anyway they would just talk and talk. Not sure how anyone can stand it actually," he replied.

"You don't say? Talk and talk and never really get to the point. Huh. Never met anyone like that," Donna rolled her eyes again. She was certain her eyes would get stuck in the back of her head with how often she had to roll them around this man.

The Doctor gave her a look that suggested he was confused by her ornery behaviour.

"Wait, did you ask a question, Donna?" he inquired.

"Me? Donna Noble, ask a question? Never," she replied sarcastically and quite out of breath from all of the exercise.

"Huh. Anyway. Donna Noble, this building you see before you? This is the Intergalactic Ringling Bros. Circus. The Greatest Show On Earths. They pluralized you know. To make more sense once they expanded to other planets. Doesn't really make sense grammatically, but it's still catchy. They put it here because they thought it was a pleasant thought that the ground under them was constantly squirming with laughter."

"You brought me to the Circus? What am I? Five?" Donna scoffed.

"Ah, but Donna this is the Circus in the year 4067. That's a good thirty years after the Circus became illegal."

"Too hard to keep a handle on creepy carnival workers, eh?" Donna quipped, "But why exactly does that matter?"

"Because, Donna. This building is still operating. What kind of building operates on it's own with no one inside on an abandoned planet?"

"I-I don't know?" Donna looked at him through narrowed eyes, unsure whether that was the answer he was looking for.

"Exactly! I don't know! Time to find out!" he said, quickly placing her hands onto his shoulders and leading her in the bunny hop towards the now foreboding building.


	2. Chapter 2

They were now inside the building and no longer required to dance so Donna was leaning against a wall catching her breath. Suddenly a thought occurred to her.

"Doctor, can the TARDIS dance?"

"Not really no, but it does have a room that functions as a giant popcorn popper. It'll certainly be shaking enough to keep those Myuck laughing. Not to mention, we'll have plenty of popcorn for a movie night. I've been meaning to watch one of those Harry Potter movies. Rumor has it there's a bloke who looks just like me," the Doctor replied, understanding the deeper meaning to her question.

Donna nodded-- glad to know that the TARDIS had really smelled a bit like a cinema when they left. She then looked down at the hand she was using to support herself. Hung next to it was a bright orange flyer with the word "NOTICE" printed at the top. Mildly curious, she turned to get a better view of it. It read:

"Notice: The Circus is to be shut down immediately until further notice. All personal are to report to the docking station by High Moons on the 48th of July, 4037. Any personal who do not board any relocation vessel leaving before or at this time will be left behind. Ringling Bros. does not accept any liability for abandoned personal. You have been warned. Thank you and have a nice day. Remember, this has been the Greatest Show on Earths."

"Hope they all got out fine. That's a little harsh, last time I got laid off they didn't even care that I stole the stapler…" Donna trailed off. She noticed several more signs posted on the wall further down.

"What was that, Donna?" the Doctor questioned. Donna jumped because she hadn't noticed him approach her, even though he had his sonic screwdriver out buzzing away.

"Oh, nothing, just keeping myself updated on the happenings of the circus. What are you doing with that?" Donna questioned, pointing to the screwdriver.

"I was scanning for life, but it's a little tricky when the entire surface of the planet is teeming with it," the Doctor answered.

"Can't you just set it to scan for, I don't know, _intelligent_ life or something?"

"Donna Noble! Hush, they'll hear you!" the Doctor reprimanded.

"Who will hear me? I thought you said you were having trouble sensing any life other than the Myuck."

"Exactly. And need I remind you, you were talking about them. Honestly, just because they can't dance, doesn't mean they can't think. And might I say, you can't dance either," the Doctor said, giving Donna a once-over.

"Hey!" Donna said and shoved the Doctor in the shoulder, "You weren't so hot either, old man."

"Hey, I may be over 900 years old but I'm not verging on decrepit or anything. In fact, I'm kinda foxy," the Doctor said standing proudly and straightening his lapels.

Just then they heard a clatter somewhere down the hallway. Their views shot toward the commotion, but they couldn't see anything because it was darkened further down. The lights were on a motion sensor to conserve energy. They instinctively moved closer together and the Doctor stepped slightly in front of Donna to shield her.

"Anybody there?" the Doctor called down the hallway and received no reply.

"Just shelves shifting or something, do you think?" Donna whispered to the Doctor, "I mean the buildings vibratin'."

"Maybe, but I doubt it," the Doctor replied, staring intently in front of him down the hall, his sonic screwdriver aimed in the direction of the disturbance. "Shall we?" he half turned-- now grinning-- toward Donna who was huddled behind his shoulder.

"Even if I say no, you'll go anyway, won't you?" Donna sighed. The Doctor only grinned wider.

"Then I'm not losing this argument. Yes, we shall."

And they both set off towards whatever was going bump in the night. Several meters down the hallway the Doctor "busted a move" and Donna was suddenly glad they were on an abandoned planet and no one was there to see them.


	3. Chapter 3

"I tell ya, Boss, they ain't like them other ones! They was talkin' and dancin' and carryin' on like normal folk do! They ain't been spat out of the dirt like them freaks we been hidin' from!" Joey Sawyer, a man who had once been an acrobat and spectacle worth traveling several galaxies to view, but had never been very talented when it came to books, frantically tried to convince the tall, broad, and brooding man in front of him they'd elected their head because of his take charge personality that the dark haired man and the red haired woman he'd seen weren't like the zombie creatures they'd been hiding from for almost thirty years.

"Joey get off it," Don Grant shoved the slightly younger and incredibly smaller man out of his way and slid back under the ship he'd been pretending to repair for almost as long they'd been hiding. He really knew nothing about how to fix a spaceship, he'd been a clown. But his constant pretending had given sense of comfort to him and the others by providing a sense of hope that one day they would leave this forgotten world. So he kept pretending. His muffled voice could be heard from under the ship.

"No one has come to this planet for thirty years. We're the only sensible creatures here and you know it. There is no use pretending that out of the blue someone suddenly cared to check if the "non-liable" Ringling Bros. left anybody behind. Now get back to the gardens. We can't run out of food, Meg's boy is shooting up faster than you can get sucked into the Myuck, and I told you we can't risk leaving them unattended. What if _they_ find it?" He'd said the word "they" as if it left an unpleasant taste in his mouth.

"You're right, Boss. I'm just getting lost in my silly hopes again," Joey acquiesced, but silently decided he was going to tell everyone else that someone—two someones-- had come to the planet. He may be stupid but he wasn't dumb. He knew what he'd seen.


	4. Chapter 4

"Right, well there's nothing here," Donna determined after quickly glancing around the room the Doctor had very decidedly informed her was the source of the noise and then looking at the sonic screwdriver which currently had no blue lines on it, something she assumed meant there were no life forms, "Shall we go back then? Go check to see if some of the old rides are still functioning?" she quickly questioned, doing a very poor job at hiding her nervousness.

"Really, Donna, nothing here? What's that then?" the Doctor motioned to the small body huddled in a shadow in the corner. Donna felt his body tense and he once again stepped in front of Donna. Donna studied the person huddled in the corner and was very relieved to see that it was only a child.

"Why! Doctor, that's just a little kid. Wait, what's a little kid doing here? And why doesn't your screwdriver have any bright blips showing his life form? You're pointin' it right at him."

"Donna, you're right that the bright blue lines show when a body is alive. But Donna that body isn't alive," the Doctor whispered.

"Right, well Doctor there's a little boy in that corner that might need our help, whether or not your little doohickey wants to admit it," Donna said, attempting to shove past the Doctor towards the child.

"Donna…" the Doctor warned, shooting his arm out to stop her from passing, "Donna, look at him."

Donna obeyed and almost screamed when she looked up and saw that the little boy was now standing much closer to them and staring. His skin was a terrifying shade of blues and purples and she could tell that his chest did not rise and fall with breath. His head was cocked to one side and he stared at them with completely vacant eyes. He was caked in mud and he was undeniably dead.


	5. Chapter 5

"Donna, do me a favor?"

"Yes, Doctor?" Donna squeaked.

"Would you mind terribly some more running?" the Doctor asked, all the while keeping his eyes on the slowly advancing child.

"Not a bit," Donna said and then took off. She quickly felt the Doctor's hand grab her own and pull her along down the hallway.

They ran as fast as they could from the child as the Doctor hurriedly explained that it had been his experience that where there is a child, there is usually an angry mother, whether or not the child was a living, breathing being. Donna knew this all too well after her experience in the library and wondered if the Doctor had thought of that when he'd made his statement. She wasn't sure whether she should be hurt or relieved by the way he talked about it so casually. Well as casually as one could while supposedly running for one's life. She was sure, however, that she wanted to keep running, when she heard a small voice that logically shouldn't work call from behind that it wanted their warmth. That it needed them. She shuddered at the scratchy, unused quality of the voice and quick clatter of the dead child's rapidly approaching feet. It was fast.

Donna was completely terrified when she heard another, larger set of feet join that of the running child, but she didn't dare look back.

She did take the time to scream, however, when she heard the loud crack of a gun firing.

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Donna ran into the Doctor when he quickly spun around to see who had fired the offending shot.

"WHAT did you do THAT for?" he demanded the angry looking woman holding a shot gun and standing over the limp body of the child that had been chasing them. She had shot the boy in the face. "He wasn't hurting us!"

"Yet," the woman simply replied, before spitting on the now still corpse and cocking her gun.

"Doctor, she could be one of them!" Donna frantically whispered. The Doctor ignored her and simply showed her the blue lights on his sonic screwdriver instead of answering and maintained eye contact with the woman in front of them.

"I am NOT ok with killing," the Doctor glared at the woman.

"The boy was already dead. Who knows how long; he was gonna take you back and make you like the rest of 'em. They're stronger than they look. Now," she said pointing the gun at them, "if you want to live, I suggest you come with me. I can think of a couple of people who will find your arrival very fascinating in the least. And put that thing, whatever it is, away."

Glowering at the woman, the Doctor pocketed his sonic screwdriver, took Donna's hand, and obeyed.


	6. Chapter 6

"Let us in," the woman with the gun demanded of the two men guarding a double door entryway. The walls around them were no longer brightly colored and happy, but were mere cement. The doors were made of metal and the temperature in this area of the building was noticeably cooler.

"We can't let you in Meg, you've got _them_ behind you. You could be one of 'em," the gentler looking of the two men answered. Both of the men were also holding guns.

"Doctor, why've they all got guns? What kinda circus has so many guns lying about?" Donna whispered.

"Unfortunately, Donna, humans and guns tend to go hand in hand. They probably have hundreds of guns from the security department and even their own collections they brought with them," the Doctor whispered back and then more loudly said, "We aren't those creatures if that's what you're wondering. I'm not sure what those are yet, but I hope to find out. In the mean time, I'd really like to find out what you are all doing here." The Doctor smiled at the people, but the two men still seemed suspicious.

"They really aren't. They were running from one of the things when I shot it down. I'm not sure who these people are, but they certainly aren't any of those freaks," Meg said to the guards.

"Yeah, well, we still don't know who you are. Why are _you_ here is the question I think we should be asking. Not why are we here. We know why we are here. You're from the Ringling Bros. ain't ya? Come back finally to see if you left anything valuable behind? I tell you what! You sure did! I'd say people are pretty valuable! I was only 13 when you lot abandoned us! Both my parents got ate by them monsters! Well guess what? Now we're in charge!" the gruffer security guard yelled, then put the barrel of his gun up to the Doctor's throat and spat at his feet. The entire time the Doctor remained calm. He very slowly reached for his pocket to show he meant no harm and pulled out his psychic paper and flashed it to them.

"We're not from the Ringling Bros. We're from the United Planets and we're here to investigate what happened. We finally got the permission and the funds to come. You know bureaucracies. We came to search for any survivor colonies, and it looks like we found one," the Doctor covered.

The gruff man still looked suspicious but he removed the aim of his gun from any vital organs.

"Alright, you can let 'em in Meg, but don't let 'em near our boy!" he agreed.

"Thank you," the woman, who was apparently named Meg, answered and put her hand on his arm, which he glared at. She quickly withdrew it with a look of sorrow that made Donna feel bad for her, and then motioned for Donna and the Doctor to follow her through the doors.

On the other side of the doors, they discovered a gigantic cement room. To their left, there was some sort of cafeteria arrangement. In the back of the room were 15 or so performer's trailers, and to their right was a random assortment of chairs and couches all clustered together and filled with about 20 people. Donna was shocked by how many people had actually been abandoned by the circus.

"Probably all pronounced dead, yet here they are, alive and alone, with no one to care enough to rescue them," the Doctor muttered with disgust. Donna merely nodded.

Meg interrupted their hushed conversation.

"I'm sorry about Schoenberg, he's not exactly happy about the life he's been forced to lead," Meg said apologetically.

"His name is Schoenberg?" Donna asked.

"Yeah, Arnold Schoenberg Mason the third. I'd don't know why he goes by his middle name, he's never told me," Meg replied.

"Really? Arnold Schoenberg! Fascinating!" the Doctor said, suddenly keenly interested, "I never really cared for his work."

"What? Never cared for the carnival worker's work? What, come here as a child and he gave you some bad cotton candy once? Got it wet and you lost the fun of dissolving it yourself?" Donna said, poking fun at the Doctor.

"No, never met that man before and I haven't been a child for quite some time, honestly Donna," the Doctor answered rolling his eyes, "I'm talking about the German Expressionist Arnold Schoenberg."

"Yeah, whose he?" she asked.

"Just some Dead Composer," the Doctor answered while they followed Meg, who was ignoring their conversation, over to the group of people gathered at the couches. Donna noticed she'd yet to see the woman smile and though she seemed to be only in her mid to late thirties, she looked much older. Her skin was tight on her face, she had bags under her eyes, her hair looked unhealthy, and she was wearing plain, functional clothing, some of which appeared to be designed for men. She sat down wearily on a couch and said, "Well, Joey. You were right. There were people out there. They aren't the creatures, and they aren't from Ringling Bros. so there's no point in harassing the poor folks. Seems they've been sent to have a nice look-see," Meg then directed her attention away from whoever it was she'd been talking to and turned back to the Doctor and Donna, "Well, Look. See?" she said motioning towards the group of people surrounding them. For the first time Donna really did look at the people and she saw that they were all staring at them in wide eyed shock. They were like deer in a headlight.

"Hello," the Doctor greeted them cheerily, "I'm the Doctor. This is Donna. So who wants to tell me what happened?"

Donna looked to Meg expecting her to be the first to speak, but she found that Meg was bent over, with her elbows on her knees and her hands covering her face. Donna assumed she'd be of no further help, and her heart went out to this woman who appeared so full of sorrow. The woman's persona quickly changed, however, when a small boy, about five or six, with curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes came rushing from the back of the cavernous room yelling "Mama!" and hopped into Meg's lap. Meg was suddenly all smiles and kisses and Donna immediately missed her own two children who never were.

"It's ok, Donna. Your time will come, and I'm sure you'll be a beautiful mother," the Doctor whispered into her ear and squeezed her hand. Donna sniffled a bit and replied,

"Yeah."

Meg noticed that Donna was upset and asked her what was wrong.

"I lost a child once," Donna answered while smiling sadly at the boy in Meg's lap. She didn't want to explain anymore and Meg could tell so she replied that she was sorry and then returned all of her attention back to the little boy she was holding.

Donna looked at the Doctor then and noticed that he too was smiling sadly at the boy in Meg's lap. Donna realized that boy had the same coloring as Jenny.

"You alright?" She questioned him.

"Yeah, I'm always alright," he answered, smiling at Donna.

"I know," Donna half smiled at the Doctor and then returned the comforting squeeze he had given her hand.

"So, whose gonna speak first? I know you're all positively brimming with anticipation," the Doctor once again asked the crowd around him.

"I will," said a man Donna hadn't noticed before. She wondered when he'd come in. He was tall and broad and seemed to be in charge. He was wiping grease off his hands with an old rag as he spoke.

"My name's, Don," he said reaching out to shake their hands, "And these folks here are the other survivors that Ringling Bros. abandoned. Of course some of them came along later," he said, motioning to the boy in Meg's lap and several other children of varying ages scattered in the crowd.

"Thirty years ago, Ringling Bros. up and left. At first, there was a real rush of folks after them things started popping up out of the mud. People thought their loved ones were coming back. After they started to realize they was just the dead bodies of their loved ones, they stopped coming. Circus started losing business. Zombies ain't exactly what people come to see for their viewing pleasure. Then, when the bodies started snatching people and shoving them down into the mud, there was an investigation. They thought it had something to do with the Circus—the people who owned it were pretty shady at the time—and so the Circus was outlawed. They evacuated the planet and said anybody who didn't make it to the ship on time got left behind."

"And you didn't make it on time?" Donna questioned.

"Oh no, we made it in plenty of time. Just our ship was attacked by the zombie creatures and there was damage done that I been trying to fix for thirty years now. Just I ain't got the know-how," Don admitted.

"Well, I'm sure I can fix your ship for you, but first, I want to find out why the Myuck is kidnapping human bodies and then setting them free…in a sense. The boy who was chasing us spoke, so I know they have some sort of intelligence. Where do they hide? Can someone take me there so I can talk to them?" the Doctor questioned the crowd. Suddenly everyone tensed and looked at them like they were crazy.

"We ain't gonna go near those things!" said a small, nervous man in the back.

"Ah, hush up, Joey. I'll take them," said Schoenberg from behind them. He had at some point left his station as a guard to listen in on the excitement, "I'm just itchin' for a reason to shoot one of 'em—maybe more than one."

The Doctor shot a disapproving glance at Schoenberg and then nodded his head in agreement.

"Alright, lead the way," he said.

As they were following Schoenberg out the door, Donna heard Meg pitifully shout from behind them to be careful.


	7. Chapter 7

"This is where the monsters hide," Schoenberg said, pushing open a door to reveal a large auditorium that looked like the inside of a circus tent. Inside Donna could see about thirty of the creatures milling about, and she tensed. She knew the Doctor wouldn't be, but Donna was glad that Schoenberg had a gun aimed in front of them.

The Doctor sauntered into the room past Schoenberg with his hands in his pockets; Donna stuck closer to the man with the gun, not the man with the ego.

"Hello, there. I'm the Doctor. And who are you?"

Donna felt a sinking sensation and realized it wasn't metaphorical. The floor of the room they were in was dirt packed. She quickly began to wiggle in place and noticed that Schoenberg hadn't been shaking with fear-- he'd been jogging in place. Donna noticed the Doctor was also dancing. Donna looked back at the creatures when they all replied in unison, "We are the Myuck."

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"Hello, Myuck. Mind telling me what you're doing in those human bodies? One of the creatures motioned for the others to cease speaking and continued forward on his own.

"We have a found a home in these host bodies. We are now free to move. Free to feel. Free to be human. They know so much. They feel so much. We desire these things," the creature replied from the body of a dead clown. Donna was sure she'd never recover from this.

"How do you know what the humans know and feel?" the Doctor questioned the creature.

"We absorb them,"

"Yeah, we know that, you suck them down to be with you, but how do you know what they _think_?"

"We absorb them," the creature replied again.

"Ah," the Doctor said, suddenly understanding what the Myuck creature meant, "You absorb their emotions! Their memories! Everything about them! Every time someone doesn't dance enough and gets "absorbed" you absorb everything they are! Not just their bodies, you absorb their minds! Their hearts! Wonderful!" he finished, grinning.

Schoenberg looked at him as if he was crazy and Donna was wearing a very similar expression.

"Doctor," she said, slightly out of breath, "Not so wonderful!"

"Oh, right…" the Doctor answered her and then turned back to the creature, "You can't do that. I know you want to think, and know, and feel like a human, but you can't just use those bodies. They belong to someone else. You need to let them go."

"No, we will not. We desire the bodies. We will keep the bodies," the creature replied, clearly having absorbed human stubbornness as well. It was now slowly advancing on them and they all began to back up. The other creatures started to follow suit.

"We need more bodies. There is so much more to feel! Let us feel your warmth!"

"Never!" shouted Schoenberg and he began frantically shooting limbs off of the approaching Myuck-human hybrids.

"Stop it!" the Doctor shouted to him as the unusable bodies began to fall.

They were all too busy focusing on the carnage in front of them that no one had noticed the creatures that had come around from behind.

Suddenly, Schoenberg was screaming and being dragged away into the dark recesses of the barely lit room.


	8. Chapter 8

Donna and the Doctor tried to fight their way toward Schoenberg, but there were too many creatures, all of them grabbing for their bodies. There was no way they could reach him. They watched in horror as Schoenberg was forced, screaming and shooting, into the mud.

Suddenly, all the movement stopped around them and the Doctor and Donna retreated towards the door. They looked in wonder as the faces of the creatures all become distorted and they started howling in pain.

"So much hatred," the spokesman shouted, "We cannot stand to hate ourselves! We cannot! We must leave! His hate has poisoned our consciousness. We do not wish to feel it!"

And just like that, the bodies fell limp to the ground.

"Huh," the Doctor grunted.

"Yeah," Donna replied.

They looked at that bodies surrounding them and suddenly Donna realized she'd stopped dancing and began moving again.

"No, need to do that. Look," the Doctor said, motioning to his own still feet that were no longer sinking, "They won't absorb anything else. Any humans anyway, they can't handle it."

Donna nodded and stopped dancing. She glanced towards the corner where Schoenberg had disappeared.

"Poor Meg," Donna muttered, wondering how they were going to tell her that the father of her child had been killed. Then she followed the Doctor out of the room full of death.


	9. Chapter 9

The Doctor had finished repairing the escape craft and was helping the survivors load it when Meg approached Donna.

"I'm sorry about your husband," Donna said, grasping the woman's hand.

"I'll survive. It's what I'm best at," Meg sadly quipped, "Besides, I see so much sorrow in your eyes, I can tell that you have experienced similar pain, and I'm glad I met you. It's nice to know someone somewhere knows how you feel." She grasped Donna's hands back and Donna gave her a sad smile.

"Besides, I've still got Aaron," Meg said, motioning to her son who was currently playing jacks with two other children, "I loved him you know. He was mean as could be and as bitter as they come, but when no one was looking, he was so gentle to me-- so gentle to my son." Donna saw the tears gathering in her eyes and gave the smaller woman a tight hug.

"I know. I know," she said.

"Alright, let's ditch this shindig!" Don clapped his hands and shouted, laughing at his own pun.

Meg gave one last look at the building surrounding her and then grabbed her son and boarded the ship that would take her away. She turned to give Donna a smile and wave, which Donna returned, and then was gone.

Donna felt the Doctors arm go around her shoulder and she put her arm around his waist.

"What do you say? Shall we move on? I've been meaning to take you to the resort planet of Midnight. No living creatures there to "myuck" up things. Plus, they have lovely banana smoothies," the Doctor said, leading Donna to the TARDIS. As she approached she could smell the distinct scent of buttered popcorn.

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Back on the TARDIS, the Doctor was setting the coordinates for their next destination when Donna questioned why the Myuck just abandoned the bodies.

"I think they probably weren't strong enough to handle the hate and anger they absorbed from Schoenberg. Only those who can be truly happy can handle all that misery. That's the beauty of you humans. You can feel so strongly, good and bad, and well, mud just can't," the Doctor answered.

"Shh, they'll hear you!" Donna joked then continued, "What about Schoenberg, I mean he had to die. It seems so unfair…"

"Everyone dies, Donna. But being a living human is more than biological, there's a spirit about it, too. And Schoenberg lost that spirit long ago. Sometimes you just have to let go, because humans don't stick around forever…" the Doctor trailed off. Donna was sure he was thinking of all the friends he'd lost, and all the friends he would lose, and she shivered, remembering how Prof. Song had never met her, but knew who she was.

"That's true, Martian boy, but we've still got today," Donna said, grabbing his hand and reassuringly squeezing it. The Doctor grinned at her and then pulled the lever that would send them into their next adventure.


End file.
